Technology FAQ

This page includes common questions CERT members have about our Zone 2 meetings, Zoom, Discord, and related technologies.

Have a question not answered below? Email Zone2@DallasCERT.org.

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For each meeting held in Zoom, we'll provide a registration link.

1. Click the link
2. Confirm that the name and date on the Zoom page matches the name and date of the event you wish to attend.
3. Fill out the required information, typically First Name, Last Name, and Email Address. Please use your full name so we can recognize you when you join the meeting!
4. Click the 'Register Now' button to complete your registration.
5. Once you register, you will be shown your personal meeting participation link. It will also be sent to your email address.

Registering with the correct information helps to ensure that you'll receive credit for your hours in Volgistics.

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We don't encourage this!

Your personal meeting participation link (what you receive after registration) is unique to you, your name, and your email address. If you share your registration link with others, they'll all appear as you at the meeting, and goodness knows we don't need a bunch of clones appearing at one of our events!

Showing up as someone else can make it very complicated/impossible to get credit for your hours.

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1. Shortly before meeting time, click on the personal meeting participation link and wait for Zoom to load and take you to the meeting.
2. You'll typically be sent to a Waiting Room, where you'll wait until the Host lets you in.
3. You'll be prompted to Join With Computer Audio or to Join With other types of audio (e.g. phone). Get comfortable selecting this choice when you join a Zoom meeting.

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Discord is an advanced text chat communication platform available on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS that allows us to collaborate and communicate on a number of topics related to CERT. During our meetings we use the chat function to play games, ask and answer questions, and share useful information and links.

Discord has been a great way for us to interact as a team during COVID.

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1. Open one of the emails from Zone 2 announcing an event that will use Discord and find the Invite Link (under the "CERT Quick Links" heading).
2. Click the Invite Link and wait for the webpage to load. You'll see "Slushie has invited you to join Dallas CERT" and a box for your username
3. Enter your username, then click "Continue"
4. You'll be asked your birthday. Please enter your birthday (make sure to write it down, if it's not the birthday that you use regularly) and click the button.
5. The next dialog will tell you to claim your account. Enter your email address and choose and enter a password for your account. Click the button 'Claim Account'.
6. The next dialog will notify you that a confirmation link has been sent to your email address.
7. Open your email account, find the email from Discord ("Verify Email Address for Discord"), and click the blue button with white letters that says "Verify Email".
8. Your browser will open Discord in a new tab. Dialog box will pop up that says "Email Verified" along with a button "Continue to Discord". Click the button.
9. When you click the button, Discord.com will prompt you to open a discord link and install the Discord desktop application. You don't have to install this application, so click 'Cancel'.
10. Put http://discord.com in the URL bar and hit enter.
11. You'll get the Discord home screen. Click on the black "Open Discord in your browser" button.

For more information, see How do I gain access to channels below.

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Logging-in to our Dallas CERT Discord Server is a snap!

1. Launch the Discord application or open a web browser
2. If you're in the web browser, open https://discord.com/login
3. Enter your email address and password and click 'Login'

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1. Once you log in to Discord, select the green DCERT server icon in the left bar 
2. In the #welcome channel, scroll to the top, read all of the instructions, and follow them beginning with filling out the linked form.
3. Ignore the "within 1-2 business days" text -- we'll get back to you in a fraction of the time.
4. When you hear back from us, you'll be all set to join our chat and voice channels.
5. Take a minute to read down the list of channels available. Each one has a purpose.